zaidd'or

By Zaid Taji Farouki

Tag: fashion

Born In A System

Considering how to present our collections from this day forward as an artist and the creative designer for the brand I have decided that we will not abide by the fashion system of showing months before the collection is ready in the atelier, or even the necessity to have a 6 month interval between each collection. As my creations will have pieces that will go with the season it will be presented in. As an artist that uses fashion as his medium the emergence of a new theme for my creations will appear once I feel that I have presented everything that I have. And a new distinct theme and circumstance have taken over my conscience and it becomes what I notice every minute of every hour of every day.

Inspired by Claude Monet’s fascination with Water Lilies and painting over 250 oil paintings of them until his death. I knew I had to follow his art of obsession. I Imagine my creations with every breath and living moment, I envision my woman in her surrounding moving to the sound of her own drums. Then one day my eyes encouter a beautiful subject across a pond, allowing me to forget the past and move forward wandering and studying her art of seduction, it’s features, and its ever growing beauty in my eyes and therefore a new muse and theme arise.

أصمم مجموعتي بنظره مستوحاه من أفكاري و معتقداتي الفنية ، فاقدم الأزياء من بعد أن أتخيل و استلهم من ما يدور من حولي ، مع كل نفس و لحظه في يومي لاخرجها بصبغه فنيه فأنا أعامل تصاميمي كمجموعه فنيه كامله و أقوم بإصدارها وتنفيذها و إنتاجها تباعا، حتى أشعر بإكتمال لنظرتي الفنيه  ولفكرة العمل و تقديمها بما يليق بها حتى وإن إمتد الأسلوب لأكثر من موسم فأنا لا أعتمد أسلوب العرض التقليدي و النظام المتبع له. أستهوي اسلوب الفنان كلود مونييه في التعبير عن إبداعاته الفنيه بإستمراره بإستنفاذ كل أساليب الرسم لزهره الزنبقه المائيه حتى وصل إنتاجه إلى ٢٥٠ لوحه فنيه فأرى نفسي أقرب إلى إنتهاج دربه في التعبير الفني عن نفسي.

أتخيل إمرأه تتواجد في بركه ماء تجذبني تسرقني من ما هو حولي لأنسى نفسي معها وأتقرب إليها لتغويني فأرى جمالها يتزايد في عيني و ينشاء في وجداني و عقلي عشق جديد و تسآئل أكبر يشغل عقلي فتترآى لي أفكاري و يبدأ إستلهامي.

En ce qui concerne la façon dont nous allons présenter nos collections a partir de ce jour : En tant qu’artiste et Designer de la marque, j’ai décidé que nous n’allons pas suivre le système classique du monde de la mode, qui consiste a montrer la collection avant que celle-ci ne soit prête à l’atelier, ou encore avoir six mois d’intervalle entre chaque collection. En effet, mes créations contiendront certaines pièces qui seront en harmonie avec la saison où ces dernières vont être présentées.

En tant qu’artiste qui considère la mode comme une inspiration, la naissance d’un nouveau thème pour mes créations n’apparaitra qu’une fois que je sentirai avoir tout donné et présenté. C’est à cet instant que ma conscience peut être envahi par un nouveau thème distinct. Ainsi, celui ci deviendra mon obsession, chose que j’observerai chaque minute de la journée.

Cependant, inspiré par la fascination de Claude Monet par les Nymphéas et également par les 250 peintures à l’huile, qu’il a produites jusqu’à la fin de ses jours, je savais que je devais suivre son chemin et m’inspirer de son art pour l’obsession.

Chaque instant de la vie et chaque souffle contribuent à l’imagination de mes créations. Effectivement, j’imagine chaque mouvement de la femme : de ses gestes au son de ses propres battements.

Et puis un jour, mes yeux se posent sur une créature divine traversant une rivière, qui me permet d’oublier le passé et me consacrer à l’avenir, pensant et essayant de comprendre son art de séduction, ses traits et sa beauté qui ne cesse de croitre à mes yeux.

Ainsi, une nouvelle muse et un nouveau thème prennent place.

 

Pirelli 2016 Calendar

Pirelli the Italian tire manufacturer has produced these calendars for over 50 years – most notorious for their pin up girls and on rare occasions, featured women in clothes – this year it has taken a turn. The photographer behind this year’s calendar is Annie Leibovitz and for the first time the attraction of the subjects is in their résumés, not their measurements. To say that these women are the usual subject of the Pirelli calendar is an understatement. This calendar shows the women who define modern life, not the sexy girls who are too young to have accomplished anything.

In The New York Times written by Vanessa Friedman discussing the calendar. She spoke about an interview she had with Antonio Achille, a partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group. He mentioned:

Female income worldwide totaled $18 trillion in 2014 within the luxury car market in the United States, 50 percent of vehicle purchases are decided by women, and 75 percent are “influenced” by them. Beyond that, Mr. Achille said: ‘Women are superb brand ambassadors. Women share a positive car experience with more than 20 people on average, while men share experiences with only two.’

And as Ms. Zimmerman said: “Women have a disproportionately loud voice compared to their male counterparts. And for those women it is no longer socially acceptable to walk into a high-end garage that sells Pirelli tires and see a calendar with naked girls on the wall. You’d drive right out again in that Mercedes you came in with.”

 

 

Pictures owned by Annie Leibovitz & Pirelli.

From London With Love

Arguably the second most iconic family in Britain right after The Windsors are the Beckhams. They have had an eventful couple of days as Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) was named entrepreneur of the year and Romeo was featured as the face of the most recent Burberry campaign named “From London With Love” which was inspired by inspired by “the golden age of romantic musicals”. It is breath taking to see an iconic brand with so much heritage presenting to us a short film that just fills us with emotion.

P.S. Victoria and David when are we signing my adoption papers?

Alexander Wang For H&M

In a collaboration that’s meant to hit stores on the 6th of November, Alexander Wang and H&M gave us a preview of what is yet to come. In an interview with Style.com Wang explained the idea and motive behind the collection “H&M has done a great job in the past with archive-based collaborations, But I wanted to create a collection where most of the pieces have been designed from scratch. There are only a couple of items that are updates from past designs. Rather than creating affordable versions of expensive items, I wanted to design true performance pieces that are within the natural price points of sportswear of H&M, so we were able to create the best version of these pieces, through our vocabulary.”

Pictures taken from WWD and Style.com

Arab Designers & The Red Carpet

Over the past few seasons we have seen a tremendous growth in the amount of couturiers that originate from the Arab World and they are taking over. We can notice this trend by looking at the stars and what they chose to wear at two important red carpet events that took place a few days ago – The Emmys and The VMA Awards. And the media has been buzzing Julia Roberts made such a statement wearing a short dress by Elie Saab, J.Lo who just turned 45 showed off her incredible body in a Charbel Zoe dress. While Beyonce not only wore one, but two different dresses by Arab designers during the VMAs – a black dress by Nicolas Jebran and a red one by Zuhair Murad. Meanwhile, Alexandra Dabbario revived old Hollywood glamour in Reem Acra.

When Kelly Rowland – a big fan of Arab designers- was asked by Style Arabia about her preference for Arab aesthetics and Arab designers such as Rani Zakhem, Rami Al Ali, Elie Saab, Georges Hobeika, and Georges Chakra, as well as,  Azzedine Alaïa.  Rowland’s stylist replied:

“We absolutely love Middle Eastern designers,” noted Dash. “Alaïa, Georges Chakra, and Elie Saab are a few of our favorites. It’s that Arabian allure. They incorporate so much value and culture into their clothes, which Kelly especially loves.”

Dash (Rowland’s Stylist” later added: “What fascinates us most about Middle Eastern designers has to be the way they externally channel so much creativity into looks for the runways. How their minds are so limitless. They’ve added so much to the Western fashion scene – with the most obvious being the turban, caftan, and hareem pant, which Kelly loved wearing during 2011-2012”

Here are some images from the runway, click to enlarge.

Photos are taken by: Rex Features, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images, fabsugar, dailymailuk, & Getty Images

 

London Street Inspirations

Images that caught my attention during my daily walks here in London…

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The $55 Million Watch

Graff unveiled the $55 Million at the 2014 BaselWorld fair. It is made out of 110 Carat watch made of rare diamonds and thousands of hours of craftsmanship, design, and research to create “The Hallucination Watch”  The concept of the Graff Hallucination came directly from Laurence Graff. He commented on his work saying; ” The Graff Hallucination is a sculptural masterpiece; a celebration of the miracle of coloured diamonds. For many years I have thought about creating a truly remarkable watch that illustrates our consuming passion for diamonds. The Hallucination has made my diamond dream a reality!”

Graff $ 55 million watch Hallucination

Graff $ 55 million watch

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DKNY’s Ramadan Collection

As the Arab & Islamic world make headlines around the world, whether its about the new radical ISIS taking over or the recent ban of bruqa’s in France. nevertheless, the actual society is trying to incorporate themselves more and more into this globalized world. The ability to grow but still maintain their customs and traditions. This collection proves the point as designers are gearing up and creating specific collections for this target customer, which happens to be one of the main markets for the fashion industry, due to the regions great consumer purchasing power. The 12-piece collection features different, interchangeable looks from long flowing dresses, skirts and jumpsuits. While always keeping in mind fluidity, layering, and conservative necklines. The looks were styled by Yada Golsharifi the fashion editor of Styles Magazine and Tamara Al Gabbani a fashion designer in Dubai.

Enjoy!

Daily Obsessions

So now that men’s fashion weeks have started and the streets of the fashion capitals are infested with greek deity figures. Lets present this post to all the men out there. With summer bringing in perfectly tanned bodies, open button down shirts, and endless beach parties; there is something we all have to agree on, there is nothing better than a perfectly accessorized man. With the perfect amount of layering, the man becomes so intriguing to others. Which creates an obsession of wanting to know the story behind this guy. As Evan Yurman puts it “From the beginning of time, man has had a need to adorn himself with things that mean something to him.”

David Yurman launched a new collection inspired by the SouthWest called the Frontier and I am obsessed with it!

Pictures taken from DavidYurman.com

Featured

Featured on the blog The Milano Mode, when I was at the event for 1177.

The City of the Seven Hills

On our last day in Rome we had to visit the last two places on our list, The Vatican and The Colosseum. We started our day by visiting St. Peter’s Basilica, The Vatcian museums, and The Sistine Chapel. I have never been this mesmerized in my life. The walk through The Vatican Museums and The Sistine Chapel – I can’t say it except in the most cliche way- took my breath away. The frescos, the detailing, the grand rooms. There was a force that tickles your taste buds, no your creative buds that allows you to imagine the feeling of the painter when creating these masterpieces. You realize that there is beauty hidden in every corner. The cracks in the walls which some people may claim as bad restoration, but I saw it as another distinctive layer that gives piece depth/history. And the beauty of integrating different cultures and nudity in their art-which could have been frowned upon among conservatives- inspires the viewer and gives them a new prospective to look at the world from (These topics will be further emphasized on in future posts). As you walk through the rooms and see the future and past colliding, you get to one of the world’s most prized possessions. The Sistine Chapel, as soon as I walked in you get this feeling of wanting to sit down or even kneel to such beauty. Even after 600 years for an artwork to be grasped by the viewer just proves the great mastery behind it. Sadly no pictures were allowed in the Sistine Chapel therefore, I can’t share this experience with you.

After The Vatican, off we went to The Colosseum to end our list of the most touristy things to do in Rome. The next morning off we went to catch our trains and flights to get back home.

The images below may seem too zoomed in. They are purposely taken like that to see the detailing, to serve as inspirations for my future collections.

Bellagio

As a friend of mine has been visiting me for the past few days we decided yesterday to take a day trip to Como and Bellagio. As I have been to Como many times, I was keen on taking the ferry to see other towns on the lake. On our way to Bellagio the ferry usually stops on every town on the way for people to embark and disembark to get to their destination. This one hour journey was breathtaking,I personally have never seen anything as beautiful. The Italian villas that are situated on the water, the rolling hills, the tiny winding streets, and people spending their hot days on their boats. LA DOLCE VITA! As we got to Bellagio it was beautiful and definitely a great choice on our behalf for choosing to end up there. Right away off we went looking for some food after subduing our hunger. We decided to roam this great place. While walking around we ended up at Villa Melzi d’Eril, ughhh the view from there, if heaven looks something like that please do sign me up! The villa was built for the Duke Melzi by Napoleon, Melzi played the role of vice president for Napoleon’s short lived Italian Republic. Check out the images below to see the beauty I have been talking about!

Click on the images to enlarge them!

Graduated!

So a few days ago I can finally say I am done with fashion school. I know this may sound cliché but this year taught me so much about myself. After graduating from university I wanted to pursue my dream so I decided to apply to fashion schools and I ended up in Milan at Istituto Marangoni. The first few months I would describe as the hardest. The stress, the uncertainty, the learning curve- tough demands which can only be met by working through the nights. With all these factors I can definitely say I learnt more than I expected.The sleepless nights & anxiety attacks paid off eventually and I couldn’t be happier, with three collections in my portfolio.

This year wasn’t all about the academics, it was also about growing as a person and facing actual competition among peers. Previously in business school we were very competitive, but we somehow worked together in classes on projects, papers, etc that elevated us all together it was team work. But sadly in the creative world it is everyone for himself and having to constantly watch your back and work. Yes, people always managed to say snarky comments about your work  just to diminish you. A great example was a fellow student that on more than one occasion mentioned that my final painting on my garments was was awful. The first incident was when he said “it’s not the fabric that didn’t work, its your painting which is bad” or the other time where he said “you should hire someone better than you to paint the outfits!”. These comments were not even called for and he wasn’t asked for his opinion in the first place. Others claimed that they were fed wrong information for them to fail the exam. Let’s say we needed a reality TV show, I would love to pitch the idea to Bravo TV.

Some may think why am I sharing this sensitive information with the people reading my blog, well these moments were a new highlight in my life. For the first time in my life, I didn’t wish a person for the best in their lives. It was a new marking point, was I going to be one of those people that were ruthless? Did I loose my personality? Or was it just amplifying something hidden inside of me? But after much thought I realized it wasn’t any of the above. Anyone that knows me, knows how I wish the best for everyone and I would always be there if anyone needed assistance. But this time I had gotten to the point where you are welcome by my side where as friends/acquaintances we inspire each other and grow simultaneously. If that wasn’t the key factor and their main factor was to diminish me, as is I am already a harsh critic on myself so I don’t need their assistance. Although I will need their assistance in one thing, they further encourage me to prove them wrong.

The day after I graduated I had to put on my professional look and head out to try to figure out whats the next step I need to take in order to leap onto my next goal. During my final exam I submitted my Spring/ Summer 2015 collection, but we also submitted finished look from our Fall Winter 2014/15 collection. I hope you like it!! Every piece was hand painted by me after the pieces were sewn to create customizable pieces that the wearer views as a piece of art rather than an average piece of clothing.

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The Met Gala Deconstructed

So a few days ago we watched as celebrities and fashion designers walked down the red carpet for one of the most important events of the year, The Met Gala. As always Anna Wintour’s themed charity event always attracts the wealthy and the famous and we cant help ourselves but analyze and decompose every single outfit after all the event was held by one of fashion’s most important figures, if not the most important person of them all. We all may have been at awe with some of the outfits, but to me I really appreciate people who do stick to the theme of the party. So lets see who stuck to the theme the most? 

As we all may know the theme for the gala was ‘White Tie and Decorations’ in coordination with the new Met exhibition dedicated to Charles James, which is nicknamed “the first American couturier”. Not many may know Charles James’ legacy but if anyone has ever worn down jacket, a wrap dress, or the strapless gown—all of those were his innovations.In 1932 he also creates a “Taxi” dress which its said it is so easy to wear that it can be worn in the back of a taxi. Below you will find images of his creations and how he inspires many designers today. You can see how he has influenced Marchesa and Zac Posen. Here are some of his designs:

(click on the images to enlarge them)

Also on a side note today Harvey Weinstein announced that he will relaunch Charles James’ brand. Harvey Weinstein is the husband of Georgina Chapman who manages to be Marchesa’s co-founder and designer. He also specified that Georgina Chapman along with her brother CEO of Marches Edward Chapman will be consultants to the brand. Weinstein licensed the brand from the late couturier’s estate.

But now lets see how the celebrities went to this event last night! Some may not have sticked to the theme but we can never stop appreciating a beautiful dress. I am loving Dita Von Teese’s Zac Posen dress!

(click on the images to enlarge them)

 

All pictures above were taken from metmuseum.org, vogue.com, Getty Images, EPA, & Reuters.

Inspiration

I am currently designing a Spring Summer collection and I would love to keep you up to date with all the work I have been doing. My inspiration for this collection is taking the fabrics in religious representations (such as crochet and chiffon) and transforming them into modern geometric pieces that incorporate prints and fabrics specifically designed by me to create a wearable avant-garde pieces. As I will keep the actual pieces and illustrations as a surprise. Here are a few images that I have drawn inspiration from. Although it may seem that I was inspired by religious figures, but the truth is that I wanted to take the feeling of the delicate, “untouchable”, femininity and transforming in a way to create the allure of the woman that I would see wearing my clothes. Here is just a small amount of images from my research. I hope you enjoy it!